Let me tell ya the story of the princess, the wall, and the diamond king.

Periphery City wasn't always like this. Just thirty years ago, there were no hovercars and no robots, and there was no such thing as a wall. The sky was huge, back then. I remember standing on the roof of the university at dawn, lookin' out across the city and across the plains, watchin' the sun come up in a blaze of bright color. Maybe you can still see it, now, if you watch from the top of the wall.

Anyway.

The travelers had just discovered diamonds at Askew Mountain, and the king wasted no time with those mines. Truckloads of shiny rocks brought with them a better life for everyone: better food, better tech, better schools, safer streets. Top it off with the birth of the new princess, and the city was the happiest it could be.

Then, word came down that the little princess wasn't gonna make it. Born with half a heart; it was a miracle she survived being born. The city threw everything it had into keeping that little girl alive -- the surgeons, the sigil engineers, the rune mages, the mechanists. We lit candles and said prayers and filled the streets with flowers and garlands. The king and queen locked themselves up in the tower, but we couldn't blame 'em.

And then, there came that famous announcement: the princess was cured. She was gonna live a full life. You never saw parties like the ones that night. You never saw joy like the smiles on everyone's faces.

Until that night, nobody'd ever heard of the Grit.

They came in swarms. Ugly things. Strange things. Things out of nightmares. Things that shouldn't exist. It was like a wave of teeth and claws and glowing eyes coming at you from every direction. The king's guard fought the Grit in the streets, eventually drove 'em back across the plains. The Grit left strange magic behind them, though; wild roots and vines tore up roads and houses. Some of those trees still stand at the city outskirts, twisted through rock and metal.

The Grit came back again, and they'd multiplied. It seemed the more we fought them, the more there were. The tougher they were. The bigger they were. No matter how many weapons our diamonds bought, nobody felt safe. Nobody could sleep, out of fear of those things in the shadows. So the king built a wall.

Things've calmed down since then. The Grit sometimes rush the city even now, but all they can do is smack that wall a few times and run off defeated. The city folk have learned to feel safe again. We cleaned up, dusted off and went back to celebrating. Sure, there was a time after the king and queen passed on that we grieved again, and nobody'll forget what the diamond king did for us -- but ever since that little princess grew up and put on her father's crown, this great city's been as bright as ever.

And sure, maybe we don't see the sunrise so much anymore in Periphery. But there's noplace else I'd rather be.



The top of the wall-to-the-sky would've been a nice place to be this time of morning: on one side the sun was shining, a sweet breeze blew over the clear flowered plains, the clouds looked like boats and rabbits scudding across a sea of blue; on the other side, the city stretched out in colorful chaos, like a vast shimmering bowlful of towers and bridges drenched in an artist's paint accident. The queen's palace stood bright and high at the center of it all, its curious curves and spirals shining white, strange and beautiful over the city, like a beacon of hope and happiness.

"Move your fat lazy asses, ladies!"

The top of the wall-to-the-sky would've been a nice place to be this time of morning, if only it weren't such a shit place to work.

Dazz popped a gum bubble, one fist on her hip and the other twitching at the trigger of a stun-gun. "The wall inspector's gonna be here any minute, and that mess from yesterday's still sittin' here. This beam's crooked! Who left this hammer on the cement mixer? If you think we're gonna skid by like last time, let me remind you that investigator's still here looking for any reason to throw the lot of you in prison. Again. Ethan, last warning, put your goddamn hard hat on! Emmitt, take out all those rivets and do it over, that's just sloppy work. Put your back into it! Look at Liam, he knows what he's doing. You got somethin' to say, Florence? What the hell kinda work is that? This is all wrong! Davis, get your head out of the clouds and keep your eye on these two -- at this rate we'll not only fail the inspection but half of you 're gonna get arrested for murder, and I'm not bailin' you out."



The little yellow service robot, named Chigger by the old foremen, whirred and dodged among the machines and piles of blocks, carrying a tray of glasses of cool water for the builders. Dazz snatched a glass as the robot passed, and for a weary moment she stared out across the plains. She hadn't slept much since Roger's death -- a freak accident, she was confident, but that damned private investigator wouldn't get off her ass about it. The wall inspection was just icing on the cake.

She took a swallow of cool water, while somewhere behind her Chigger was beeping merrily and handing out glasses to the builders. It meant they'd all put down their tools again and slack off, but she hoped Davis would take care of it while she caught her breath.

A massive cloud of startled birds flocked into the sky in the distance, out near the scar of the diamond mine. Dazz swallowed another gulp of water and held up her binoculars -- but all she saw were birds and trees, and then just trees. The birds billowed and flapped and swung toward the city in a dark glimmering wave; they skirted around the edge of the wall with an ominous noise of flapping and chirping, and dispersed into the distance.

Dazz stared at that spot by the mine for awhile, curious to see what could have spooked all the birds out of a ten-mile radius -- but eventually she put the binoculars down and forgot about it. They had an inspection to pass, and she couldn't afford to lose a single one of these dimwit builders.

As soon as Dazz turned away, Ethan flipped his hardhat back off, grinning. He turned to the cement-robot, who was currently churning the wet grey glop out into the filler space between the metal sheets. He approached, and then rapped on it's head. "Hey Crunk, how about you go pour some more over by beardy there?" He said, pointing at a man working a ways down with a long beard. The Robot turned, looked, and then booped happily and waddled off towards the man.

Ethan laughed. Construction robots were so easy to manipulate. He glanced around to make sure none of the other slave-masters were working, and then he walked to the city-side edge. He swung down, hanging on the ledge with his fingers, and slipped into a dent in the wall made by a falling piece of metal the week before.

He looked out over the city, contemplating how to snag the enchanted wrench the old mechanic who fixed the construction bots carried. He considered just tripping the man and grabbing the wrench as he fell. But he decided he didn't want the old man injured. He would have to make a distraction of some kind. He shrugged, that shouldn't be too hard.

There was loud commotion and yelling from above, several shouts of his name. He jumped back up, hanging from the ledge. Dazz and Davis were looking around nervously for him. He slipped up over the edge and drew out the piece of paper with his short range jump-sigil. He pressed it, and imagined flying over the city. He appeared behind Dazz. He tapped her on the shoulder. "You rang boss?"

Vincent glowered as he walked around the Wall with no real goal in mind other than passing the time. This wasn't the first time that Father had sent him out with an escort to learn a lesson. The lesson this time was supposed to get it through Vincent's head that there were people worse off than he was and should work to help improve their lives, but Vincent already knew that there were people worse off and he didn't care. The noise here was awful and he didn't care much for the smell of the workers.

He glanced over to the escort that Father sent with him to babysit. Randy was the name he preferred to be called, but his name was Randall Tyne and was a real loyal employee of Father's. There was no way that Vincent was going anywhere Father didn't want him to for now. For now he'd just have to humor him. He had already broken away from the boring tour, so that was a plus. At least Randy didn't stop him from that freedom.

He watched half-bored as a construction manager was yelling out orders at workers. He mumbled to himself. "I wish I had a cigarette." Father had found them again and confiscated them. "God this sucks." He kicked a piece of rubble and watched as it flew toward a freshly finished part of the Wall.

Elliana Faye

A young woman gently clutched at her shirt over her chest, feeling her heartbeat that was faster than normal. Nervous excitement -- for her, excitement always came with a measure of nervousness -- filled her, making her feel more aware of everything around her. At least, would have, if that same energy didn't also have a tendency to make her day-dream. She sat, staring at her feet, imagining what the city would look like from up on the wall, and -- more importantly -- what the view beyond the wall would be like.

A loud ding sounded throughout the rail car, bringing the day-dreaming girl out of her head with a start. As she blinked and looked around, pushing down the small shot of adrenaline from the scare she had received, she noticed a few other passengers giving her strange looks. Red colouring rushed her pale face as she quickly looked back down at her feet. She must have let out a small yelp when she had been startled.

She began fumbling with her bag, trying to pull a book out to make it seem like she was busy, and to try to distract herself from her embarrassment. That was when she noticed the train slowing down, and the soft, pleasant voice coming through the many speakers place throughout the car, calling out the name of the stop -- her stop.

After a moment of slight disbelief that she had almost missed it, the young woman lurched into a small panic, struggling to put the book back in the bag. Despite the fact that she hadn't even gotten it fully out, she couldn't manage the simple task, and accidently sent the book falling to the ground. Of course, it had to land completely flat, making as loud of a sound as possible just to draw more attention to her and spite her.

All-too-aware of her cheeks reddening even further, she kept her eyes locked towards the ground as she buttoned down her bag, picked up her book, and rushed out of the train car and onto the platform a moment before the doors began to slide close. She stood there for a moment as the train went on its way, clutching at her chest again as she continued fighting down her embarrassment. With a gentle shake of her head, she looked around to get her bearings, wiping down the back of her book from dirt.

A minute later, she had climbed down a few flight of stair and had gotten outside of the station, finding herself on the sidewalk of a rather dinky-looking area. In fact, there weren't even any roads or structures overhead other than the monorail station, allowing her to see a spot of the blue sky far, far above.

It made sense that the area was less-developed -- it was right at the edge of the city, the towering wall not two-hundred feet away from where she stood. The woman took a moment to stare in awe, craning her neck to see as much of it as she could. There were definitely uglier areas to see, too, as this place had been spruced up a little, being a tourist attraction. A wide stone path, surrounded by nice grass and neatly spaced out trees, among a few other appealing plants, lead up to a museum-looking building that sat directly pressed against the wall. Two impossibly long, see-through elevators, their shafts tube-shaped, came out from the top of the building, going all the way up the wall. This building was one of three similar ones, all evenly spaced around the inside of the wall, ensuring that at least one was always open when others were closed due to construction. The elevator shafts were built to be easy to extend, meaning that no matter how high the wall got, tourists could always go up.

The excitement came back to the woman in full force, the previous embarrassment forgotten, as she saw a group of people going up. With a skip in her step (that she immediately stifled, not wanting to be seen doing such a thing) she walked down the path and into the building.

The inside was nice, a gift shop immediately to the right, among various other things, but only one thing interested the young woman -- the entrance to the elevators, a few ticket takers standing by the two double-doors. She went up to one of them, taking out her ticket and handing it over.

"Good morning, miss," the older man said with an easy, practiced smile as he took her ticket. "Excellent choice to go up at this time of day. Now, and at sunset, are when the view is most breathtaking."

The young woman simply gave a small smile in return and nodded, not trusting herself to sound like a ditz if she opened her mouth. She held out her hand as the man showed her a wristband, allowing him to tie it around her wrist. "Please wait beyond these doors for an elevator, it should only take a few moments at most for it to arrive. Have fun!"

With that, he opened the door for her, and she stepped in, squeaking out a little "Thank you." As the door closed behind her, she moved to the corner of the fancy waiting room, choosing to stand rather than sit on any of the comfortable-looking benches, not wanting to attract attention from any of the others who were also waiting. She kept her eyes on her feet as she fiddled with the handle of her bag to pass the time.

A few minutes later, after several more people had been allowed through the doors, the elevator had arrived. A group of people exited, being directed by an employee who had also been in the elevator to their right and out a different set of doors. After they had cleared out the elevator operator ushered the new group in.

According to the young woman's count, there were fifteen people inside, excluding the operator, but it was large enough that even she didn't feel too uncomfortable -- if they wanted to, the diameter of the circular elevator allowed them to all stand side by side with room to spare.

They began going up, the clear walls of the elevator allowing them to see the city as they ascended at an impressive speed. The young woman's eyes couldn't help but go wide, and she desperately wanted to move up to the glass and press her face against it, but held herself back, not wanting to appear childish in front of the other people.

It didn't take long for them to reach the top, and the woman thought for certain that she was shaking from the excitement. She did her best to calm herself down as the operator moved to open the doors -- the city from so high up was incredible, but what she really wanted to see was the other side. Managing to keep herself from sprinting out, the bright light of the morning sun pouring in and filling the elevator as the doors slid open.

It seemed to take the operator forever to step out and gesture for them to exit, wishing them a wonderful day. The moment it happened though, the young woman moved as fast as she could while still walking, heading to the other side of the wall to the safety railing. She quickly grabbed hold of it as she felt her knees go weak, to keep herself up. With wide eyes, a bright smile, and a bit of nervousness from being so, so high up, she stared out.

There were no building, no man-made structures. At all. Only nature, and it's natural colours -- not artificial, neon-bright like the colours of the city, but real, beautiful colours. Green, which dominated the ground, the sparkling blue of bodies of water larger than she thought could exist, the bright blue of the clear sky above, and the pure white of clouds, among other specks of colour.

But most beautiful of all was that it was completely bathed in the natural, warm light of the impossibly-bright morning sun.

The young woman's vision began to blur slightly as she felt tears beginning to build up in her eyes. Realizing that she was on the verge of crying, she quickly pulled a sleeve up and brought it up to her face, wiping her eyes with the heel of her hand. Being seen crying over a view would be terribly embarrassing, and the woman didn't even chance looking around to see if anyone had noticed, the risk of awkward eye contact too great. Besides, she didn't want to look anywhere else but out over the world anyways.

She heard a guide call out, announcing he'd be taking any who wished out to tour the wall. The young woman chose to stay put, at least for the moment -- there was no time-limit on how long she was allowed to be up on the wall, every ticket being a day-pass. She could wait for the next tour -- just this one view was enough to joyfully overwhelm her, so she thought it best to perhaps compose herself for a while before moving on.

Florence looked at Dazz with a gesture of 'I don't have anything to say.' As she continued her rant Flor took a glass of water from Chigger and began to take a break. He looked below their platform and noticed a new group of tourists had just arrived. Most had gone on for the tour, but one stayed behind looking off beyond the wall. It was beautiful and most of the time Flor would look out during his breaks, but this time another target had presented themselves. He loved to play a prank on the tourists and the less there were the less likely he was to get in trouble. "Hey Chigger watch this." He set his water down and dropped just behind the woman. He activated his sigil just before landing flat on his back behind the target. He kept his eyes shut as the woman turned around and as she stooped to see if he was ok he jumped up and quietly said, "Boo."

He couldn't spend much time on the prank or else he would get caught. He wasn't scared so much of slacking off or scaring tourists, but his fall always left a little damage to the ground and Dazz would kill him, make him fix the damage and then kill him again, if she found it was him. He quickly jumped back up to the work platform by using his boots and dents in the wall or loose fixtures and equipment that hadn't been covered or moved yet. He returned to his seat, pleased with himself at the scare he brought the woman. He finished his drink and turned to go back to work. Today's work wouldn't make much progress as Dazz wanted the previous work fixed for the inspector. Flor chose to work on straightening the beam as it actually was crooked and he planned on fixing it with or without Dazz's instruction.
@XLegs

"Is there something new I could cover? The Wall again? Well, there's nothing really new so I guess that would work..." Reina whispered to herself. Since Periphery was safe, and people were happy with their ruler, there wasn't much news to cover. The construction of The Wall was the only thing that would make a good headline, but that's what she sent two days ago. Reina sighed. "To the wall it is."

"Pendant, check. Camera, check. Good to go." Reina walks her way to work. She does not have any mode of transportation nor does she want to have one because she wants and needs to take pictures on the way. Might get a little scoop. She didn't live far from The Wall though. A 20-30 minute walk would suffice. She purposely chose to rent an apartment near The Wall 'cause she knew she would frequent the place. She visits The Wall almost every other day. She visits so much that the workers and guards know her and don't even bother asking why she's there.

Reina entered The Wall, smiling at the guards, and touched the teleportation sigil that brings her to the top floor, the 173th floor. As usual she saw workers and robots, both working hard to finish yet another floor to add to the already tall wall. She brings out her camera from its bag and starts taking pictures. A quick flying drone passed by with materials to bring to the workers. Reina touches her pendant-sigil and makes the drone stop for a few seconds and presses the shutter button. The drone started flying like nothing happened. "Works like a charm."

Nothing was new. It was the same floor they were working on the last time Reina was there. The, something caught the corner of her eye. There were buzzes and people cramping up on the corner of the wall. "A scoop? Finally." She hastily went to the buzz and saw Dazz and other workers along with one worker who seems to be the center of what was happening. Of course, Reina did nothing but take pictures.

Early shifts. They're for the birds. Synthetic Shrineroot powder would never taste as good as the genuine stuff. It was the only option in terms of "natural" supplements to assist one in waking up. Otto had all but forgotten what it was like to have a reputable stash of herbs, roots, spices, plants, insects, ashes and oils. All that was left of his old inventory was packed in a leather suitcase, which he had all but emptied out decades before. Ripping open the package of 'UPROOT!,' Otto spilled the contents into a bubbling thermos of water and twisted on the threaded cap. This morning, his apartment spelled heavily of sewage and chemicals. Maintenance workers had been in and out of his apartment (and the ones adjacent) all night in a fleeting attempt to repair the state-of-the-art plumbing system. Otto grumpily tossed his thermos into his nylon work bag and cursed the night of sleep he missed on his way out to work.

Clocking in was simple enough. The computer terminal accepted the bar code on the rear of his I.D. badge with an audible tone, followed by a firm female voice, which stated,"SONNEN. OTTO, G. NUMBER NINE, NINE, TWO." Otto sat his thermos down on his desk, twisted the cap off and filled it half way with piping-hot drink. As he painfully drew a pull of the awful drink, he reviewed his work order for the day. Otto read it aloud, mumbling into his UPROOT!,"...in relation to the structural [unknown jargon mixed with slurping] west-most horizontal section #0173 requires immediate in-service inspection. Provide detailed [more mumbled jargon and slurping]...blah blah. So, basically do this now. The senior engineer wants me to do the work of three inspectors, which should have been yesterday, today." Otto set down the thermos cap and work order to flex his hands. He only removed his robes and gloves to bathe, which wasn't too often. His body pulsated in pain, starting from his hands and up through his shoulders and middle back. Otto would day dream about his past; a time when most of his body didn't hurt. Over thirty years ago, by his count.

It was the perfect day to work outside of the office. Waves of heat were visible just above the pavement on the sidewalks. Otto readjusted his hood to shield his face from the Sun's rays and tugged upwards on his gloves. He felt tingling pain from the friction between each glove and the skin on his hands, but it was manageable. Lines and groups of people, tourists maybe, walked in and out of the West Wall main elevator terminal building. Otto glided effortlessly through the talkative crowd and slipped into the employee's elevator tube. The tube was large enough for five to six adults, and wasn't as aesthetically pleasing as those which were used by common citizens. Employee tubes traveled faster, stopped less smoothly and had a hatch-style door on three sides for maintainers to exit and complete various duties on the city's enormous wall.

Otto stopped the tube a few meters shy of the wall's summit and transferred himself and his gear onto a wire-guided trolley. Now exposed to the elements, he could once again hear the sheer force the noise of the city produced. The wind was much greater at this altitude, which caused him to cinch further down on his hood and pull up on his gloves again. Above him at the wall's summit, he could vaguely make out the rambling and cursing of who Otto assumed was a foreman or a supervisor. He let out a quick, hot breath from his nostrils. "I don't miss that." He fired up his inspection equipment, dialed in the appropriate settings on the portable hard drive and set to work on the Horizontal Section of the west-most wall, #0173.

As the elevator containing one Elliana Faye ascended, another elevator farther along the wall was also scaling said edifice. Its path took it to the section of the wall that was currently under construction, and as such, it wasn't much used currently, with its only passengers being the construction workers on their days off. Usually, that is. Right now, its only passenger was a rather jittery, short, young woman clad in a large, puffy jacket, a pair of jeans, and a pair of running shoes, who was nervously playing with a lock of her curly black hair. This was Maria Loronha, and she was a refugee, of sorts. She patted her pockets, taking a mental inventory of her possessions. Notepad and pen? Check. Money? Check. Candy? Her thoughts were interrupted briefly by the sound of crackling coming from her pockets. Definitely check. She took a deep breath, to calm herself. It didn't quite work. She danced in place briefly, letting out an excited "Eeeeee-hee-hee! I can't believe I'm actually going to the top of the Wall!" She looked out of the window of the elevator, down at the city below. "Wow, everything looks so tiny up here! Even the Queen's palace!" She took in the view for a while, before an idea occurred to her. "I wonder if I can see the candy shop from here... Let's see, there's the Seventh River, so the candy shop should be right about... there!" Indeed, there was the candy shop, with her house above it, looking incredibly tiny from way up here, and from the looks of it, bustling with people. "At least the shop's thriving again." She fell silent for a while, lost in thought.

When the elevator arrived at its destination with a "ding," she looked up, startled, as the doors slid open with a "whoosh" that held a bit of a creak behind it. Maria was briefly blinded by the sunlight, and after blinking a few times, rushed outside. "Whooooaaaa!"

The sunrise was unlike anything she had ever seen before. The sky was streaked with reds and oranges, which themselves were shot through with yellow. The undersides of the clouds were painted light pink, which contrasted beautifully with the dark gray of their tops. Purple still clung to the edges of the tableau, framing an incredibly beautiful sight, especially for one who had never seen the sunrise. Maria was content to stand there for a while and soak it in, so she did. A wonderful thrill ran down her spine, and she thought: How could the Queen order this built, if it meant we could no longer see such a wonderful sight? The thought of not being able to see such a thing as this again filled her with melancholy for a moment, before she remembered that she was not a tourist; she needed to find work, blend in, and make friends. Otherwise that scummy rich bastard would find her, and that would be a bad time for everyone.

She set off down the wall, towards the sounds of construction and yelling. Before long, she came upon a woman who seemed to be in charge; she was yelling at the other workers and was fingering what looked like a stun gun, so Maria figured that she was in charge. Her back was to Maria, so Maria decided to tap her on the shoulder and say "Um, excuse me. Are you in charge here?"

Dazz would hear a crackling sound from behind her before Maria tapped her on the shoulder. She would also see a tiny girl in a fluffy jacket far too big for her, looking at once concerned and determined. The overall effect was one that made her look about 5 years younger than she really was.

Emmitt Hubert Drake

Emmitt sighed in exasperation as he set the riveter down next to him a little rougher than he should have. The rivets had already been redone twice at this point, and his craftsmanship wasn't getting any better. Frustration whirled around in his head for a few minutes as he began removing the rivets again. He really wasn't cut out for this sort of work. Emmitt looked over to see that Dazz was distracted by a well-off looking little girl, so at least he had some time before the next of her corrections. Taking a bit of chalk from his pocket, he measured a straight line.
"So they're straighter than I thought, at least," Emmit muttered to himself, "I can probably salvage most of them." As he picked up the riveter and went to his work, thoughts of home and family drifted though his mind. The smell of books and sounds of children playing wouldn't be as missed if he could actually enjoy the fresh air up here. Unfortunately, the smell of heated metal and sweat met his nose more than the smell of flowers. The riveters, welders, constant shouting and swearing weren't music to the ears either.

Wiping his face and staring at the same rivets that he had been staring at for hours, any distraction would be a welcome one.

"Oh fffffffffshit."

The city streamed around him in a crash of colors and a roar of sound. The pulsating waves of the morning crowd echoed off the open storefronts and the warmth of the brilliant golden sun shimmered on the intricate curving patterns in the wide stone walkway of the western concourse. He looked up as he ran. From so close to the Wall, it was easy to see one of the rings of giant mirrors that brought the sunlight to Periphery City. Angled to catch the dawn from the mirrors above, they formed a relay from the top of the Wall to the very lowest level. Between them stretched the glass elevators. Dozens of them flowed, up and down, carrying visitors and workers, human and machine alike.

He nearly threw his red metallic keycard at the side gate as he approached. It dinged politely.

<Piper, Renaldo. Approved for service elevator 1047S-T.>

He was too exasperated and late to bother stopping to look up at the maze of holographic signs. He moved his left hand to his right arm and fingered a keyboard, pulling up the accounting firm's network.

"I need *huff* service elevator ten-forty-seven s-*huff*-dash-t!"

A neon orange beam sped across the walkway before him, lighting his path. He skidded to one side to avoid a stroller and to the other around a gawking tourist. The orange beam ended and the door of a large and unwieldy yellow metal canister rattled open as he approached. It was heavily dented and scratched and had rivets down a side where a section was bolted back on. Apparently employees didn't get quite the same experience as everyone else. He slowed to a walk and entered, the door closing behind him with a clang as he leaned against a wall and caught his breath. The stench of grease and sweat and depression assaulted him; choking back a gag, he breathed more slowly. The light above flickered as he tapped a keyboard idly and swept through several files. His name was Renaldo but the other interns called him Moth. They said he was flighty and harmless and always managed to create a mess if left on his own for too long. He thought it was kinda cool for a nickname, though, and embraced it. After all, he knew they were just insulting him and putting him down because they were his friends. He'd never had those before, and it was nice to have people paying attention to him for once. Moth smiled.

A rumble, and the door groaned open and light filled the elevator. Moth looked up, squinting before the brilliant white that flowed in. His thoughts melted away and he stepped out, awestruck. He was immediately hit by a warm breeze that ruffled his hair and made his eyes water. Or maybe it was the light. Or the view.

What hit him hardest was the size of it all. Numbers and measurements couldn't do it justice. Wave upon wave of emerald, grassy plains stretched to the horizon. Wind sped across the ground, row after row bending to its will and flowing towards the endless sky. And the sky! Moth had never imagined it could be so orange. Streaks of yellow and red coated the clouds as they journeyed through the breaking dawn to the ends of the world. The world outside the Wall. The world outside Periphery City.

Moth's suit beeped. The meeting with the section foreman was starting. The moment passed and reality hit Moth hard as he ran.

Scowling, Kat closed the chat window by flicking her eyes to the left. She had dragged herself out of bed this morning after about three hours sleep, head pounding, mouth dry, everything hurting. The anti-hangover pill she’d downed with a glass of water had taken the edge off, but she was still hanging hard. After quickly changing into her favourite gunmetal jacket, backpack and ripped black jeans she’d run from her apartment (a total tip after getting back last night and throwing her stuff everywhere) to the tourist lift. And despite that, Kat still managed to arrive ten minutes earlier than the time they had agreed. Little did she know that that meant she would be stuck up here, alone, an hour before her siblings were due to arrive.

Jakob had been convinced that, since it was one of Kat’s rare days off, she would want to sleep in. Despite pointing out that she never slept in (sleeping was just a low power state, wasting precious energy and time, only needed when absolutely necessary), he refused to listen until the twins agreed to get there for sunrise. At least, she thought they’d agreed, but it seems that realising they weren’t going to win an argument over IM, they’d just decided to tell Kat they would be there and assumed she would turn up about an hour late. It was clear to her now that all along the other Meyer siblings had been trying to secure a lie-in for themselves, and had hoped that she would play along.

My fault for believing they’d get up early to see the sunrise.

A shame, really; the view of the rising sun was incredible- although Kat was very grateful that her glasses automatically adjusted to avoid any glare which would add to her headache. The shop was a ground-floor building towards the centre of the city, so didn’t get much sunlight even during midday. She had forgotten quite how nice it was to feel it’s warmth on her skin, and to breathe air that wasn’t quite so heavy with the smell of oil and metal. The sheer immensity of the space beyong the wall was hypnotic, and almost terrifying- she was so used to her tiny apartment, cramped nightclubs and cluttered workshop that the idea that so much empty space even existed in one place felt impossible.

Opening up the 3-D video function on her tech-specs, Kat walked closer to the edge of the wall for the best view of the sunrise. After taking a video shot, she picked the best- the one with the birds suddenly flocking into the sky, and without any yelling in the background from an irate supervisor- and uploaded it onto her SeeWithMe account. For anyone viewing the picture with their tech-specs, it would be like you were there yourself. She made sure to forward the link to her siblings with the tag “This is what you’re missing…”

After watching the sun rise for another minute, Kat began to look around at the activity on the top of the wall. Most of the wall workers seemed to be clustered together by some commotion. It seemed to be centred around the loud supervisor whose shouting had ruined Kat's first video, and behind which stood a tiny girl in an oversized jacket. Surely they’re not sending kids as young as her up to the wall- maybe she’s lost. Towards this commotion approached a slight camera-wielding girl with blue-grey hair, coloured like zinc. One of the workers sat apart from the commotion, holding a staring contest with some poor quality rivets. Pushing down an urge to go over and redo the rivets herself, Kat instead looked back at her fellow tourists.

Only a meter or so from her stood another young woman, gazing out at the sunrise with teary eyes. After contemplating approaching her, Kat decided to let her be as she seemed to be somewhat overwhelmed by the view. Her hangover must be as bad as mine.

“I wish I had a cigarette. God this sucks.”

Kat turned to see a young man glowering at the construction workers, accompanied by another man that seemed to be watching him closely. Well, I guess they’ll entertain me for now. Pulling a pack of cigarettes out of her jacket pocket (Kat was only a social smoker, but she knew well having spare cigarettes was a good way to meet new people), she lit one for herself and waved to get their attention.

“Hey- You want one?”

@drewccapp

Vincent slouched after kicking the stone until he heard a woman's voice which caused the seventeen year old to stand up straight and at attention.

“Hey- You want one?”

He turned around until he saw a pretty tattooed woman holding out a pack of cigarettes in his direction. He grinned and nervously scratched the back of his head. He enjoyed taking every opportunity to get attention from attractive women and girls. He glanced over towards Randy whom made no movement towards them keeping his "safe distance" away from Vincent. It's not like he actually smoked the things, they just felt nice to his lips. He explained to Father multiple times that it helped him focus, but Father wouldn't have any of it and would confiscate them anyways. Vincent understood that he had a lot of energy and without the cigarettes to center him he'd be causing more trouble than he knew he should.

Vincent nodded quickly and pulled one from the pack. "Yeah." He smiled as he put it between his lips and didn't light it. Now everything came into focus. He could see the business-like man hurrying to a meeting he was probably late to. A nosy reporter snapped photos nearby. The tour group he had broken away from continued onward without a care in the world. That sunrise he hadn't cared about or even noticed finally came into perspective for him. The workers operated like clockwork as the robots monitored the area for discrepancies.

Vincent finally focused on the woman in front of him with a relaxed smile. "That's much better." He pulled the cigarette from his lips and extended his free hand for a shake. "Name's Vincent." The slight nerves he felt vanished now that he had his cigarette and all that he had now was confidence. Now things were looking good today.

"Well. I suppose it's effective."

His inspection was mostly complete. There were discrepancies to report, for sure. Otto's equipment wasn't designed to detect angles, missed rivets...the sort of things the naked eye could detect. Were it any other day, or if the inspection was being carried out by the appropriate number of personnel, W-0173 would be a 'no-go.'

Otto, in his typical hunched-over fashion, stood in the suspended cable trolley at even level with the wall's summit. Indebted workers, robots and foremen busily moved around performing various tasks. He even noticed a few people who were working hard-exceptionally hard-at doing nothing meaningful. Otto gained the attention of a nearby loader robot by throwing a loose screw at it. "Hey fella. Mosey on over here, give this old man an assist, will ya?"

The metal and plastic-clad robot clanked and zipped towards the trolley and stopped between it and the wall. Otto grabbed his bag and used the robot as a step to arrive atop the wall's surface. "Royal funds, hard at work." A stack of unused girders lay nearby, which Otto found as the ideal perch to recover from several minutes of painstakingly boring work. He prepped his wooden pipe and puffed away, waiting patiently for an opportunity to speak with the woman in charge of the workers. Now seemed like a bad time. She looked pissed.

Liam was at the wall at around six in the morning. He slowly made his way to the wall he was working on and sat at the edge that faced the forest outside of Periphery. He sat there and waited as the sun rose in the distance. And just like every other day, Liam held his breath as he watched it rise. No matter how many years he worked the wall. Nothing was more rewarding to him than to see the beauty that was nature. For about five minutes Carter lost all sense of time as he just stared at everything. Thoughts of what else was out there rushed through him like a river as he gazed out into the distance. What else lies beyond what I can see? What else is yet to be discovered? Is there a beauty more profound than this? Will I ever see it? He said aloud as he took out his notebook and wrote down what he just said. Soon the sun took its place above the clouds and Liam set his mind on his work.

Soon the rest of the workers had joined him, continuing a project that, To Liam, seemed never-ending. “A wall that would reach the clouds” some say, but the clouds seem to never stop gaining altitude for me. Maybe one day we will reach the clouds…..I wonder what exactly we could see once we achieve such a feat. Liam thought as he was interrupted by the shouts of the boss lady herself Dazz telling everyone to start moving. Liam could not help but give out a small chuckle as she was doing so. Liam had worked with her for what seemed like eternity and he still was somewhat intimidated by her. But he knew that underneath it all was a kind soul so he never really was truly terrified of her, though he has seen what she will do to those who do not respect or listen to her.

Relax boss lady, I’m sure by the time the inspector or whatever he is called arrives everything will be done. He said as he took a glass of water off the tray Chigger had, patting the robot on its metallic head as it zoomed past. As Liam took a short rest he noticed Otto resting nearby. Speak of the devil I do believe he has arrived. He told no one in particular as he gave a short wave to Otto and walked over to Emmitt.

Hey Emmitt, I heard the boss complaining about the rivets you were working on. Need any help?

@Smertless

”That’s much better. Name’s Vincent.”

Kat regarded the boy in front of her for a moment, exhaling a long stream of smoke towards her left shoulder. She hadn’t really been expecting him to just accept the cigarette without asking for a light, but decided that it was perfectly understandable.

All the enjoyment of trying to balance it on your lip, none of the health risk. I guess it makes a kind of sense.

Leaning forward, she shook Vincent’s hand firmly.

“Glad I could help. I’m Kat.”

Leaning back, Kat took another draw on her cigarette and eyed up Vincent’s ‘friend’, who hadn’t yet introduced himself, or even moved towards the two of them. Vincent himself seemed fairly young, possibly too young for Kat to be offering him a cigarette (machines were the only things she could guess the age of reliably). A bodyguard, perhaps?

She was about to ask Vincent why he was being followed about by this guy, when a window popped up in the corner of her tech-specs:



Now putting the chat window on “do not disturb”, Kat turned her attention back to Vincent. She returned his smile, a glint of mischief gleaming in her eyes.

“You don’t seem particularly interested in the view. Do you come up here often, then? Or are you just giving your friend here a tour?”

@drewccapp

Vincent nodded once as Kat introduced herself. This was the first time he got a firm handshake from a woman; every other one he met gave him a limp fish handshake. He pretty quickly found himself liking her already.

“Glad I could help. I’m Kat.”

He couldn't help but notice her spotting out Randy. It wasn't like he was hiding or anything anyway. She looked like she was about to say something when she got a message on her tech-specs. She put in some commands and he waited patiently for her to finish. Then she smiled with a glint of mischief like she was having fun or something. Which was perfectly fine, because Vincent was having his own sort of fun and mutually assured fun was the best sort of fun.

“You don’t seem particularly interested in the view. Do you come up here often, then? Or are you just giving your friend here a tour?”

Vincent chuckled lightly. "Got it in one. At least my disinterest that is. This is my first time actually." He then jabbed his thumb towards Randy who responded to the gesture with a grunt. "Don't mind Randy. He's here because Father wants me to have a babysitter while I'm off learning a lesson about our history." He sighed heavily and shook his head and then shrugged as he faced the sunrise. "All is not lost in this venture. I get at least two pretty sights today." He glanced at her with a meaningful look and returned to gazing at the sunrise.

"All is not lost in this venture. I get at least two pretty sights today."

Kat blinked. Vincent seemed to be younger than her by quite a few years, but that didn’t stop a slight blush rising to her cheeks. She couldn’t really remember the last time someone called her pretty- she’d been called hot (mostly by skeevy guys in nightclubs, so it was a term she’d learned to dislike), and “tough” (this she felt was supposed to be a compliment from clients at the shop, but it tended to fall flat), but pretty? That was a new one. Someone, this teen had already mastered the art of being incredibly forward and yet quite genuine.

Dangerous. But it looks like I’ve met someone pretty entertaining.

Trying to hide her reaction, Kat drew on her cigarette again, and blew the smoke out through her nose (as a social smoker, Kat had an impressive repertoire of party tricks).

“I think if you’d look around you’d see plenty of interesting things on this wall.” She eventually said, gesturing about her. “But I’ll thanks you for the compliment.”

Feeling like she’d recovered from that particular surprise, Kat joined Vincent in looking out at the world beyond the wall.
“I’m not really an expert, but I’m not sure if you can really see much History from this spot. After all, when I was at school the story of the wall was drilled into me so much I probably still recite it in my sleep.” Kat mused, stubbing out her finished cigarette. Then again, I’d bet this guy is smarter than me on stuff like that. I was always too focused on machines to think about anything else. “So what kind of lesson is it you’re getting up here?”

After a few more minutes of running, Moth finally ran out of energy and slumped forward, hands on knees. A few people milled around him, either not noticing or not caring about the small young man covered in sweat and on the verge of blacking out. It was his first real field assignment with the partnership, and he had already screwed it up. He shuffled towards the nearest section of wall and fell backwards against it, sliding into a sitting position. His heart pounded in his ears. He gazed out towards the open expanse and it all came back to him. A torrent of birds rose from somewhere far away and scattered into the air. The clouds were already turning from pink and orange into a silky bluish white as the sun continued to rise over the opposite end of the Wall. It was still early in the morning and the tourists were scarce; moreso in an area so close to construction.

Moth tapped a keyboard and pulled up an image of his Sigil of Stamina. He concentrated, and tried his best to clear his mind, and hoped. Someday he would get there. Someday he would be sitting in one of those offices, numbers dancing in his head and the world displayed in formulas and graphs before him. Someday he would make partner. Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Brown, and Piper, LLC. The Sigil glowed.

Moth took a deep breath and exhaled, shaking. The sweat cooled and his heart returned to almost a normal rhythm.

@drewccapp"All is not lost in this venture. I get at least two pretty sights today."

Directly across from him, a young couple with their backs to him flirted openly. A young woman nearby sniffled loudly as she looked out over the valley and clutched a book to her chest. Another woman stood nearby and snapped pictures. Not of the view, like he expected, but of people. Weird.

@Eodwyn Aether"Relax boss lady, I’m sure by the time the inspector or whatever he is called arrives everything will be done."

Boss lady? Moth's spirits perked up.

@Tojin"Um, excuse me. Are you in charge here?"
@OnlyThePie"You rang boss?"

A little girl who crinkled was tugging on a worker's sleeve. Another worker was trying to get her attention. Looking closer, Moth noticed several people surrounding her. He suddenly got the feeling of something just below the surface, like a large bubble in a pot of boiling water rising to the top. Or a bomb about to go off. Moth pulled his knees to his chest and subconsciously pressed himself against the wall.

No sooner had Dazz put down the binoculars, a high-pitched screech rang out at the far side of the section. Old Borrick the bot mechanic sprang up, squealing like a stuck pig, dropped his toolkit and frantically wiped wet cement out of his mile-long beard. Crunk, the cement-mixer robot, had somehow got the bright idea to slop all that cement right into Borrick's lap. Borrick danced from one foot to the other, sloshing cement everywhere, while Crunk whirred happily.

Dazz sprinted to the scene, slammed Crunk's off switch, and while the robot powered down she whirled on the rest of the builders with death-laser eyes. It only took a glance to know the one face that was missing was the guilty party.

"ETHAN MORRFIELD!" she roared like a tiger. The inspection was destroyed, the murder investigator just got a new reason to be suspicious, and one of her builders had up and gone missing. "This has your name all over it. ETHAN! Git your ass out here!"

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and Ethan barely managed to get a few words out before Dazz slammed the barrel of her stun-gun back into his gut and gave him enough of a jolt to send him sprawling. Dazz stood rigid for awhile, without even looking back at him. Finally she holstered the stun-gun and dropped a hard hat on Ethan's face. "Git back to work," she said icily to the rest of the builders.

The doors of the visitors' elevator whizzed and clacked open, letting out the newest batch of gawk-eyed city folk. Fortunately, they were a bit too far off to have heard much of the commotion, and the tour guide was showing them the view in the opposite direction -- couldn't have the visitors getting stuck in Ethan's cement-mess, after all -- but they were another factor in the already complicated wreck of a day. Especially the ones that hung around too close to the build site, skipping the tour to watch the sunrise, apparently. The city folk held the sun and the sky much dearer than the builders ever did.

Elliana was one of those tourists, transfixed by that sun, for a minute not so nervous or timid -- that is, until Florence took a fall from up high on the building beams and landed right smack on his back just behind her. He looked dead, for a minute -- anyone would've had a concussion and a few broken bones from that tumble -- but just when she might start to call for help, Florence gave her a fright and leaped with his power boots back up to the build site, laughing, not a scratch on him.

The laugh was short-lived, though. Dazz was waiting for him, a cold grin on her face, and she shoved the handle of a shovel at his chest. "And you can clean up Ethan's cement mess," she told him pleasantly. "After you apologize to that girl."

She turned her head slightly, glancing sidewise at the reporter behind a clicking camera. "Reina, is there really nothing more interesting going on today besides a cement spill and a dumbass prank?" Dazz heard the telltale groan of a cable trolley opening up down the wall, and her ever-observant eyes caught sight of Otto -- a hunched old man with an identifying black satchel and a very purposeful business to attend to. Dazz's mouth twitched. "Hey Reina," she said to the photographer, sidling closer to speak confidentially. She gestured with a thumb at Otto, who was below them and a little distance away. "See that guy? If he talks to you or asks to see any pictures, I'd appreciate it if you came up with an excuse not to, right? I'll owe you lunch."

In the background, Borrick the mechanic was still sobbing hysterically over his cement-covered beard.

"Borrick yer gonna be fine!" Dazz hollered. "Florence is gonna help you get that all cleaned up. Right Florence?" Borrick wailed in despair. Dazz winced, but was finally distracted by the sound of crackling and a tap on her shoulder. Dazz steeled herself, balling a fist in preparation to give Ethan a good slug to the jaw, but her eyes opened in surprise to find a small girl in a huge jacket filled with something that smelled and sounded delicious. Dazz tipped her head, relaxed, and spoke with an honest smile. "I'm Dazz, and I'm absolutely in charge here," she told Maria. "But this is a dangerous zone, what're you doing up here?" She produced a hard hat from behind her back and dropped it onto Maria's head.

Chigger the robot whirred back around with another trayful of glasses of water. It stopped beside Maria and held the tray up to her, then scrambled across to where Emmitt was drawing chalk lines between the rivets -- obviously one of the most dedicated workers on the wall. The robot stopped beside him and very intently offered him a glass of water, beeping and whistling encouragingly. When Liam -- the only builder Dazz always referred to as competent -- approached to offer his generous help with the endlessly crooked rivets, Chigger raised the tray of water glasses to him, too, then scurried away with a pat on the head to retrieve more water. At least one little oasis in this chaos remained peaceful.

Dazz's pocket alarm began blaring music -- a popular song by the city-famous Gypsy K.O. -- and she growled as she yanked out the offending device and turned it off. Was that expenditures meeting today? "Shit." This was the absolute worst time for a meeting about the money, especially when they were running so enormously over-budget. Dazz glanced back at Otto the inspector, saw that he had taken a break to puff on a wood pipe, and decided this was her only opportunity to get the accountant out of the way as quickly as possible. She gave Maria another smile. "Hold that thought, I got an auditor to get rid of. Here, Reina can help you out. She knows about as much as I do at this point, anyway." Dazz tapped Maria toward Reina and rushed to the meeting, already making plans to get him to go away.

A few of the visitors had stayed behind from the tour, and instead were milling about near the elevators. The timid Elliana stood against the outer wall, still recovering from Florence's bad taste in pranks. Katrina, whom Dazz vaguely recognized as an accomplished bio-mechanic, exchanged cigarettes and conversation with the young and rich Vincent, whose silent butler pretended to be more interested in the sunrise. And then, there was a geeky, lanky kid in a sweat-stained suit, curled up against the barrier, staring at a calculator screen.

Dazz removed her hard-hat and approached skeptically. She gave Moth's shoe a light kick to get his attention; he seemed to be preoccupied with his own nerves. "You that accountant from the . . . color-wheel firm?" Seemed a bit young to be doing such important work, but maybe that would work in her favor. Dazz gestured with her head back toward the building block. "C'mon, then. Get this over with, right?"

Down in the city, the big screen at the city square popped into existence, and the queen's smiling face appeared there, tall as a building and radiant as the rising sun. Good morning, good morning! her voice chirped throughout the city -- loud enough for the echo of it to reach the top of the wall, but not so loud as to be disturbing. It's a gorgeous morning, isn't it? The clouds are in all sorts of funny shapes today! I'm especially looking forward to the cake festival today on Jiminy Street. I heard Lee Loo will be doing a live sigil-baking demonstration, and Gypsy K.O. might be performing! And good luck to those of you participating in the hovercrate races! I'm rooting for each and every one of you!

Thunder rumbled in the distance, though the sky was bright.

Electricity sparked behind the clouds over the diamond mine.

I hope you have an exceptional day --

The feed suddenly cut out, and the screen disappeared.

Moments passed, and the day was just as normal as it ever was; the city carried on with its morning. Probably just a glitch in the system.

Vincent put the cigarette back into his mouth as he took his time to think up an answer. Kat hadn't asked him what lesson he was getting up here, not the one that Father intended. He felt pretty good about himself right now. He got her to blush, that he was certain although she tried to hide it. He actually began to wonder what exactly was it that he was learning here. Personally he thought that it was crazy to be building a wall up this high. The Grit hadn't attacked in forever. Sure there were sightings, but at this point he began to wonder if they were myths or fantasy. Maybe there were some horror story made to get fearful children into line.

Ultimately, he didn't see the point in constructing a wall out of paranoia and fear. His father apparently worked with the Queen because of family history and the fact that Rune Mages were so rare, and Vincent thought of her only as crazy for wasting the resources on the wall that she did. The paranoia and desperation was what would get Periphery destroyed not the Grit. Of course Father would explain that this wall was built for the people, but Vincent didn't care.

He cleared his throat and pulled the cigarette from his mouth to speak again. "I don't exactly know what lesson I'm looking to learn here. That's a good question though." He waved a finger in Kat's direction playfully. "So, what are you up here for? Seemed like some friends were messaging you earlier." He pointed that finger at the tech-specs. He slipped that hand back into his pocket and looked Kat in the eyes to hear her answer.

Down in the city, the big screen at the city square popped into existence, and the queen's smiling face appeared there, tall as a building and radiant as the rising sun. Good morning, good morning! her voice chirped throughout the city -- loud enough for the echo of it to reach the top of the wall, but not so loud as to be disturbing. It's a gorgeous morning, isn't it? The clouds are in all sorts of funny shapes today! I'm especially looking forward to the cake festival today on Jiminy Street. I heard Lee Loo will be doing a live sigil-baking demonstration, and Gypsy K.O. might be performing! And good luck to those of you participating in the hovercrate races! I'm rooting for each and every one of you!

Thunder rumbled in the distance, though the sky was bright.

Electricity sparked behind the clouds over the diamond mine.

I hope you have an exceptional day --

The feed suddenly cut out, and the screen disappeared.

Vincent frowned as this distraction interrupted his conversation. Even though this happened every day, he never once enjoyed the daily morning announcements. He thought that they were crazy and a waste of time. The rumbling sound was confusing as hell especially when the feed cut out completely. He had a bad feeling about this.